Twins Daily Prospect Ranking June Update: Pitchers Sink & A Legitimate Catching Prospect Rises

[Matt Braun]

Image courtesy of Khadim Diaw

The new prospect rankings can be found here, let's go over the notable changes. 

The Big Risers
Starting with the positives. Kaelen Culpepper, Dasan Hill, and Ricardo Olivar all jumped multiple spots in our rankings, with Culpepper moving to #4, Hill going to #6, and Olivar reaching #18.

Culpepper might be the prospect story of the year for the Twins. Taken 21st overall in the 2024 draft, the Kansas State shortstop has exploded in 2025, slashing .293/.385/.479 with the Kernels in 54 games. Even more exciting is his defense, which Eric Longenhagen calls “bold and creative,” as he harnesses his deft nimbleness and strong arm to impact the game as a plus defender. He was recently promoted to AA Wichita. 

Perhaps as intriguing, is another 2024 draftee, Hill. Minnesota capitulated stylistically in selecting the prep lefty 69th overall before giving him 2,000,000 reasons to skip going to college. His raw stuff as a 19-year-old is unbelievable. His heater already sits in the mid-90s, and his off-speed stuff is generating swing-and-miss at an exceptional level. He currently holds a 1.65 ERA across 27 ⅓ innings with the Mighty Mussels. 

The Big Fallers
There are only two ways to move up a prospect list: someone ahead of you either graduated or dropped. Unfortunately, the latter was the case for Charlee Soto, Marco Raya, and Cory Lewis (a bad month to be a pitcher, I guess.)

Soto flashed tremendous potential in his second season in the Twins’ system, but he last pitched on April 17th due to a right triceps strain. He was recently placed on the 60-day injured list. 

Raya has been healthy… and that’s about the only thing that’s gone right for him this year. The numbers are gruesome: he carries an 8.66 ERA and 2.04 WHIP in 12 starts with the St. Paul Saints. Still, he’s only 22 years old and will have plenty of time to find his groove again.

It almost seems like the Lewis we knew was kidnapped and replaced with a much lesser version. The pitcher who dominated in 2023 and 2024 has been nowhere to be seen; Lewis claims a 9.09 ERA with the Saints in 2025. For his sake—and because we need to see another knuckleballer in the majors—hopefully, the rest of the season is kinder. 

A legitimate catching prospect? In the Twins system?
2024 3rd-rounder Khadim Diaw enters our list as the team’s 16th-best prospect—and we’re even short-changing him if you ask Kiley McDaniel. 

The first player of Senegalese descent to be drafted by a major-league club, Diaw moonlighted as a catcher while at Loyola Marymount but showed enough athletic potential for the Twins to select him 96th overall for a cool $597,500.

Longenhagn of Fangraphs writes that being “[l]anky and fluid, Diaw loads his glove from the ground and shows the actions to grow into being an average receiver and blocker, though his backhand is presently unreliable. His arm strength is playing below average, but he is quite accurate and is already doing passable work despite threadbare experience.”

Offensively, Diaw has been awesome in 2025. He’s slashing .302/.455/.431 with a 12.4% walk rate as a 21-year-old at A+ ball. Indeed, zone control is his calling card: across 714 combined plate appearances in college, summer league, and the minors, Diaw has struck out just 104 times. 

Diaw does the Ricardo Olivar/early-career Daulton Varsho thing where he splits time between catching and playing the outfield. Given his atypical athleticism for a catcher, Diaw could become something special. If you’re looking for the team’s next big thing, he may be it. 

All hail the 5’5” terror.
Payton Eeles hit his way onto the prospect radar in 2024 when he slashed .306/.435/.497 across three minor league levels, which included a lengthy look with the St. Paul Saints. 

Eeles’ journey here has been incredible. He spent four years with D-II Cedarville before using his bonus pandemic season to transfer to Coastal Carolina, where he put up a .500 OBP as a fifth-year senior. 5'5" fifth-year seniors don’t get drafted, though, so Eeles went the indy-ball path to finish 2023; he spent just six games as a Southern Maryland Blue Crab in 2024 before the Twins scooped him up. What a signing it may be. 

Eeles has mainly played second base as a pro but has also spent time in the infield spots to his right, as well as the outfield. He bears a strong resemblance to a Mauricio Dubón-type, both in defensive utility and offensive profile. He missed the start of 2025 due to a knee injury yet is now back to playing with the Saints. Like Carson McCusker before him, he could see big league time because of injury, and because, well, a player with his profile needs to have a shot at the highest level.

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[rdehring]

Thanks for the report, Matt.  Interesting.

Am ecstatic that the Twins have TWO potential catchers in their top 20.  Amazing!

[LambchoP]

I wish they would give Eeles a shot. He could replace Bride on the roster until Keaschal is back. In the OF they could potentially improve the offense by dumping Keirsey for Mccusker or eventually E Rodriguez or Gabby Gonzalez who has had a great year. Keirsey adds nothing to this team. At least Bride pitches lol....

[Mike Sixel]

49 minutes ago, LambchoP said:

I wish they would give Eeles a shot. He could replace Bride on the roster until Keaschal is back. In the OF they could potentially improve the offense by dumping Keirsey for Mccusker or eventually E Rodriguez or Gabby Gonzalez who has had a great year. Keirsey adds nothing to this team. At least Bride pitches lol....

Kiersey is a late inning defensive sub. What are you doing with McCusker if he takes Kiersey s spot?

[Wedman13]

GREAT article/update.  Thanks!

[jorgenswest]

Are rankings reflective of a player’s skill level and potential upside?

It is really hard to believe that a player’s skill level and upside is changing that much from one month to the next. If it isn’t changing then these changes in ranking must be due to our complete inability to rank players. If we are so inept in our ability to rank players against each other that each month results in big risers and fallers, then let’s stop ranking them against each other. It really is meaningless anyway when significant shifts are happening monthly.

I read Fangraphs by the tiers and not numbers.They have one Twin at 55 (above average regular), three Twins at 50(average everyday player, ten Twins at 45 (low end regular/platoon player) and eighteen Twins at 40 (bench player). To me the context of those tiers is helpful as we get to the trade deadline. Trading a number 6 prospect seems like a lot until you get the context that the future value of this player is low end regular/platoon.

Why not group them in tiers instead trying to distinguish among a large group of players projected to have a future value of a bench player? With number rankings, a change from 25 and off the list to 15 seems like a big deal but in reality their future value of bench player really hasn’t changed at all. Going the other way knocks them off the list. Instead of seeing McCusker on the minor league report I will see Eeles. Is the future of one that different than the other?

I also believe it will help readers focus on a player’s future value. In considering the value of a trade knowing that we traded or received the 5th and 15th prospect from a team isn’t very helpful. Is that number 5 player that we are trading away expected to be an everyday regular or platoon player? Is that 15th player expected to be a platoon player, bench player or a player that is expected to be a player that moves up and down with AAA?

 

[Mike Sixel]

14 minutes ago, jorgenswest said:

Are rankings reflective of a player’s skill level and potential upside?

It is really hard to believe that a player’s skill level and upside is changing that much from one month to the next. If it isn’t changing then these changes in ranking must be due to our complete inability to rank players. If we are so inept in our ability to rank players against each other that each month results in big risers and fallers, then let’s stop ranking them against each other. It really is meaningless anyway when significant shifts are happening monthly.

I read Fangraphs by the tiers and not numbers.They have one Twin at 55 (above average regular), three Twins at 50(average everyday player, ten Twins at 45 (low end regular/platoon player) and eighteen Twins at 40 (bench player). To me the context of those tiers is helpful as we get to the trade deadline. Trading a number 6 prospect seems like a lot until you get the context that the future value of this player is low end regular/platoon.

Why not group them in tiers instead trying to distinguish among a large group of players projected to have a future value of a bench player? With number rankings, a change from 25 and off the list to 15 seems like a big deal but in reality their future value of bench player really hasn’t changed at all. Going the other way knocks them off the list. Instead of seeing McCusker on the minor league report I will see Eeles. Is the future of one that different than the other?

I also believe it will help readers focus on a player’s future value. In considering the value of a trade knowing that we traded or received the 5th and 15th prospect from a team isn’t very helpful. Is that number 5 player that we are trading away expected to be an everyday regular or platoon player? Is that 15th player expected to be a platoon player, bench player or a player that is expected to be a player that moves up and down with AAA?

 

?

People on these boards have little knowledge. Changing ratings might be more knowledge. But come on, do you really think the rankings by random people on the internet are reflective of anything other than fun?

[jorgenswest]

8 minutes ago, Mike Sixel said:

?

People on these boards have little knowledge. Changing ratings might be more knowledge. But come on, do you really think the rankings by random people on the internet are reflective of anything other than fun?

Very true. Thanks.

[Mike Sixel]

4 minutes ago, jorgenswest said:

Very true. Thanks.

I hope that didn't come off snarky! It wasn't meant to.

[Linus]

2 hours ago, jorgenswest said:

Are rankings reflective of a player’s skill level and potential upside?

It is really hard to believe that a player’s skill level and upside is changing that much from one month to the next. If it isn’t changing then these changes in ranking must be due to our complete inability to rank players. If we are so inept in our ability to rank players against each other that each month results in big risers and fallers, then let’s stop ranking them against each other. It really is meaningless anyway when significant shifts are happening monthly.

I read Fangraphs by the tiers and not numbers.They have one Twin at 55 (above average regular), three Twins at 50(average everyday player, ten Twins at 45 (low end regular/platoon player) and eighteen Twins at 40 (bench player). To me the context of those tiers is helpful as we get to the trade deadline. Trading a number 6 prospect seems like a lot until you get the context that the future value of this player is low end regular/platoon.

Why not group them in tiers instead trying to distinguish among a large group of players projected to have a future value of a bench player? With number rankings, a change from 25 and off the list to 15 seems like a big deal but in reality their future value of bench player really hasn’t changed at all. Going the other way knocks them off the list. Instead of seeing McCusker on the minor league report I will see Eeles. Is the future of one that different than the other?

I also believe it will help readers focus on a player’s future value. In considering the value of a trade knowing that we traded or received the 5th and 15th prospect from a team isn’t very helpful. Is that number 5 player that we are trading away expected to be an everyday regular or platoon player? Is that 15th player expected to be a platoon player, bench player or a player that is expected to be a player that moves up and down with AAA?

 

I like this idea. The tiers give a better sense of realistic outcomes. 

[DJL44]

5 hours ago, LambchoP said:

I wish they would give Eeles a shot. 

He has an OPS < 600 in AAA. He hasn't earned a shot.

[DJL44]

3 hours ago, jorgenswest said:

It really is meaningless anyway when significant shifts are happening monthly.

You're right that it is meaningless. There is probably nothing in the universe less meaningful than fans ranking minor league baseball players. It's also harmless fun. Not everything has to have some deep meaning.

[Matt Braun]

5 hours ago, jorgenswest said:

Are rankings reflective of a player’s skill level and potential upside?

It is really hard to believe that a player’s skill level and upside is changing that much from one month to the next. If it isn’t changing then these changes in ranking must be due to our complete inability to rank players. If we are so inept in our ability to rank players against each other that each month results in big risers and fallers, then let’s stop ranking them against each other. It really is meaningless anyway when significant shifts are happening monthly.

I read Fangraphs by the tiers and not numbers.They have one Twin at 55 (above average regular), three Twins at 50(average everyday player, ten Twins at 45 (low end regular/platoon player) and eighteen Twins at 40 (bench player). To me the context of those tiers is helpful as we get to the trade deadline. Trading a number 6 prospect seems like a lot until you get the context that the future value of this player is low end regular/platoon.

Why not group them in tiers instead trying to distinguish among a large group of players projected to have a future value of a bench player? With number rankings, a change from 25 and off the list to 15 seems like a big deal but in reality their future value of bench player really hasn’t changed at all. Going the other way knocks them off the list. Instead of seeing McCusker on the minor league report I will see Eeles. Is the future of one that different than the other?

I also believe it will help readers focus on a player’s future value. In considering the value of a trade knowing that we traded or received the 5th and 15th prospect from a team isn’t very helpful. Is that number 5 player that we are trading away expected to be an everyday regular or platoon player? Is that 15th player expected to be a platoon player, bench player or a player that is expected to be a player that moves up and down with AAA?

 

I do personally agree that a tier method is better, but a number ranking is simply easier to analyze and digest in a presentable form, especially considering it's an aggregate. 

[FlyingFinn]

7 hours ago, LambchoP said:

I wish they would give Eeles a shot.

Why? In a league that is a big hitters league, Eeles has the lowest OPS on the team (.561), almost 300 points behind Julien and even behind Miranda. He got started late this year. Let him earn a chance by having a great 2nd half of the year.

[DocBauer]

I really enjoy the updates and the conversation about the individual players, regardless of what exact order they are in. 

Really pleased by the early development of Culpepper. I was lukewarm about his selection, but he's a better SS than scouting reports stated, and he's got a good mix of pop and speed. A good rest of the season at AA for him, and Jenkins, could have them potentially both at AAA next season.

Hill has been outstanding! But is he ready for CR yet? Keep in mind he's still building up his body AND his arm. I don't see him throwing more than 70 pitches at any time this rookie season. I don't mind some patience with him. But then again, if he can replicate close to how hes throwing now, 3-4 IP at A+ would be an added positive.

I'm just not as high on Olivar as some people. He can hit and seems to have good zone control. But he doesn't have much power or speed. His arm doesn't play behind the plate, even if he improves his game calling and defense there. I think he's a RH bench bat/platoon OF who can be your 3rd catcher. 

On the other hand, I think Diaw is the top catching prospect in the system, though raw. Hes got bat potential and is a much better athlete than you normally see at catcher. I think he's a guy who you just groom to stay behind the dish and end up with at least a decent catcher with a better than average bat. IMO, Cardenas is probably the #2 option in the system right now, or potentially tied with another young option in Ferrer, similar to Diaw. Except for a horrible 2024, he's reportedly to be a solid backstop and his CS% is solid. Not much power, but he makes decent contact and has a good eye, resulting in a solid pro OB% so far.

I'm not down on Soto, and I personally wouldn't drop him due to his injury. He's absolutely one of the best arms in the system, hes just out right now. He flashed real potential in 2024 and was off to a great start here in '25. He just needs to get back on the mound for the 2nd half.

Based on what hes done previously, I'm not completely "down" on Lewis, but he sure isn't looking like the pitcher he was previously. Here's hoping it's just mechanical issues and not something more. But he clearly deserves a slip down in the rankings.

At not yet 23yo, and reportedly possessing some nasty secondary stuff, they're going to keep Raya in a starting role as long as possible. (I've never thought he'd be up this season despite being on the 40 man). His command/control is still an issue. But if the light comes on? I keep hearing his FB, despite good velocity, is annoying issue. Can they change the shape of the pitch? Does he need an arm slot adjustment? I can definitely see a move to the pen at some point where he might surprise. But for now, he's a work in progress who will probably remain in the rotation to begin 2026, but definitely a downgrade in rankings based on his performance so far.

I don't think Eeles is just a good story with a single, magical year. But hes only just got back to AAA about a week ago. He needs time to get timing and swing back, as well as flash some of the pop he's flashed. (POP, not power).

A couple guys not mentioned that I've been intrigued by are Rosario and G Gonzalez. Rosario got off to a terrible start but has really picked it up the last month or so. And GG has been pretty great all year. They aren't proven yet, and each has some warts to work through, but they might be better RH OF options over Olivar.

Lastly, a quick shout out...and I can't believe I'm saying this...to Aaron Sabato. The one time prospect and recently turned 26yo looks like a completely different player this season. He's only got 7 games at AAA so far, SSSS, but he's off to a great start. We often talk about a prospect's development not being linear. And it's true. But is there even a chance he was just a late bloomer who finally figured out how to hit at a professional level? It would be a great and rewarding story if possible.

[tony&rodney]

I flip back and forth between minor league games quite a bit (watching 4 days a week on average) on the small screen (computer), with the Twins on the big screen (sound off). Because I have watched so many games there are pretty obvious strengths and weaknesses observed as well as improvements made and players deficiencies being exposed. I would agree that watching via milb.com, which I do, is a poor substitute for those who may go to several dozen games in person. Thus I would definitively say that I'm not an expert on the players, just another hack. I do listen to the minor league announcers a fair amount. Only one position player from the organization has drawn consistent positive comments from these announcers and this guy has had his weaknesses noted as well: Brandon Winokur. 

Winokur is a unicorn and I don't know if he will ever make it to the major leagues. He makes plays in the infield and in the outfield that no other player in the organization is capable of completing and has an incredible arm. The athleticism is off the charts. He has 10 home runs (some lasers and others total bombs) and 20 stolen bases. He has trouble with his swing but is pitched to more carefully than one would expect for a player only at the A+ level. I wouldn't put Winokur among the Twins top prospects because there are so many variables, but he is fun to watch. Maybe Winokur manages to conquer all of his hand and lever variables by March of 2028. 

[Jeff K]

41 minutes ago, tony&amp;rodney said:

I flip back and forth between minor league games quite a bit (watching 4 days a week on average) on the small screen (computer), with the Twins on the big screen (sound off). Because I have watched so many games there are pretty obvious strengths and weaknesses observed as well as improvements made and players deficiencies being exposed. I would agree that watching via milb.com, which I do, is a poor substitute for those who may go to several dozen games in person. Thus I would definitively say that I'm not an expert on the players, just another hack. I do listen to the minor league announcers a fair amount. Only one position player from the organization has drawn consistent positive comments from these announcers and this guy has had his weaknesses noted as well: Brandon Winokur. 

Winokur is a unicorn and I don't know if he will ever make it to the major leagues. He makes plays in the infield and in the outfield that no other player in the organization is capable of completing and has an incredible arm. The athleticism is off the charts. He has 10 home runs (some lasers and others total bombs) and 20 stolen bases. He has trouble with his swing but is pitched to more carefully than one would expect for a player only at the A+ level. I wouldn't put Winokur among the Twins top prospects because there are so many variables, but he is fun to watch. Maybe Winokur manages to conquer all of his hand and lever variables by March of 2028. 

I saw Winokur twice in spring training and was highly impressed.  Played SS both games and looked good despite being really tall.  Looks a bit like Ripken did before he filled out.  If only that were his path!

[AKTwinsFan]

Trade trade trade. We need more legit pitching and other teams systems might be the answer. We gotta convince Correa to take a trade somewhere else that can afford his bloated salary. Use the first 3 rounds coming up to draft pitchers.

[twinstalker]

Billy Amick's not shown anything at all.  Don't understand this.  Don't be fooled.  High K rate, too old at level (A+) for prospect status, and unsustainable BABIP.  I have no idea what people are looking at.  He's not on my top 20.